“Coo, coo…” A white dove flapping its wings interrupted the emotional exchange between master and disciple.
Xin Yun looked up at the snow-white dove, reached out her hand, and signaled for it to land in her palm.
The dove, as if it had a spirit of its own, obediently landed on Xin Yun’s hand.
But the moment it touched down, the snow-white dove turned into a slip of paper.
“The dove turned into paper!” Wen Jiayin exclaimed in surprise.
“That’s a little trick my senior brother likes to play.
He… says I should bring you to see him.” Xin Yun’s expression turned a bit odd—if you had to describe it, she seemed a little reluctant.
“Master, you don’t want to go?” Wen Jiayin noticed that Xin Yun didn’t look too willing.
“My senior brother… likes to meddle.” He’s so naggy, so annoying.
Xin Yun, out of consideration for her senior brother’s reputation, didn’t say the last two adjectives out loud.
“But we still have to go, otherwise he’ll come here himself.”
“Actually, in a couple of days you’ll need to attend classes too, Jiayin.
You can get familiar with the way there.”
That’s when Wen Jiayin remembered that all new disciples had to attend the main lectures, even those who already had a master.
She’d already been working for years, and now she was suddenly going back to class—her feelings were a bit complicated.
Once again, Xin Yun picked her up, and in the blink of an eye, they arrived at the main peak.
Wen Jiayin realized her master seemed to really like carrying her.
If she hadn’t insisted on walking herself, Xin Yun would probably have carried her all the way to the sect leader.
Inside the sect leader’s reception hall, the eldest disciple was reporting to his master with a headache about the little junior sister’s recent antics.
That exceptionally gifted little junior sister of his had really been spoiled—forming cliques and playing pranks on fellow disciples during class, and causing trouble all over the mountain after class.
And “trouble” didn’t just mean people; it included spirit beasts in the beast garden and spiritual herbs in the herb garden! The heads of Dan Peak and Beast Taming Peak had both come by, hinting that this child really needed to be disciplined.
The sect leader’s chief disciple was so worried his hair was falling out in clumps.
How could he possibly control this little junior sister? Even his master might not be able to get her to behave.
To be honest, it was his master’s fault—maybe it was because of age, but the sect leader doted on this last disciple way too much.
Sure, she was the only daughter of his late best friend, but spoiling a child like this was bound to cause trouble! Sigh, if he’d known, he would’ve just handed this little terror over to his junior uncle.
Maybe only someone as cold as Uncle Xin Yun could handle her.
Speaking of which, didn’t junior uncle just take on a disciple? Maybe he could use the excuse of letting two kids of the same age become playmates and send the little junior sister to Lingjian Peak.
He really didn’t want to look after kids anymore! Thinking of all this, this several-hundred-year-old senior disciple almost wanted to wipe away a tear of frustration.
“Uh…” The sect leader stroked his beard a few times to hide his embarrassment.
That child really had been spoiled by him.
Her parents had been his closest friends for a thousand years, but they’d been killed, and the murderer still hadn’t been found.
So he doted on her even more, afraid the shadow of the past would affect her cultivation path.
But he’d gone too far.
After all, he was the sect leader, busy with affairs every day, and he’d neglected the child’s upbringing a bit.
Now things had gotten out of hand.
Sigh, he’d even planned to call his junior sister over to talk about raising children, but now he’d raised a little demon king himself and was too embarrassed to bring it up.
The sect leader was troubled too.
He couldn’t bear to punish the child harshly, but if someone else tried to lecture her, she probably wouldn’t listen at all… Just as he was sighing, he saw his junior sister walking over slowly, holding a child by the hand.
His junior sister’s steps were noticeably slower than usual, clearly to accommodate the little short legs she was holding.
The two of them walking together gave off an inexplicable sense of harmony.
“Senior brother.” His junior sister greeted him as coldly as ever.
He was used to it—his junior sister, who cultivated the emotionless path and was naturally aloof, was already being nice by greeting him at all.
But what happened next nearly made him fall out of his chair.
He saw his junior sister lower her head and, in a gentle tone he’d never heard before, say to the child, “Jiayin, this is your shibo.
The one next to him is your shibo’s eldest disciple.”
The child called Jiayin replied in a sweet, childish voice, “Greetings, shibo, shixiong.”
“Ah, ah, good, good child.” What a well-behaved kid.
The sect leader hadn’t even finished praising her before his eyes widened in shock, staring at his junior sister like he’d seen a ghost.
When did his junior sister ever talk like that? The sect leader’s chief disciple was just as shocked, though as a junior he had to control his expression and not show any disrespect.
“Junior sister… you…” The sect leader hadn’t finished speaking when Xin Yun looked up and met his gaze.
That look… okay, still his junior sister.
“Senior brother, you called Jiayin and me here.
What did you want to say?” Her tone was as indifferent as ever, as if she’d get impatient if he said more than a few words.
For the first time, the sect leader didn’t feel hurt by it—he actually felt relieved.
“Of course, I wanted to see my little shizhi! The child came back to Lingjian Peak with you all covered in wounds.
You’ve never taken a disciple before, so I was worried you might overlook something, so I called you over to talk.” The sect leader was basically saying he didn’t trust his junior sister.
“Don’t worry, senior brother.
I’ll take good care of Jiayin.” Xin Yun’s expression grew even colder.
She was pretty sure her senior brother was trying to make her look bad in front of A-Yin, and she really didn’t want to stay here any longer.
“I’m reassured just seeing her.
Not bad, not bad, all the external injuries are healed.
Wait—this child… has already drawn qi into her body?!” The sect leader finally noticed the faint spiritual energy around Wen Jiayin.
“That’s right.
Jiayin successfully drew qi into her body last night and even broke through to the second level of Qi Refining.” Xin Yun squeezed Wen Jiayin’s soft little hand, her tone full of pride.
“Hiss…” The chief disciple sucked in a breath.
Damn, is this talent even better than my little demon king junior sister? “Good, good! Looks like our Jingdao Sect is about to have another genius.
Heaven is truly blessing our sect!” The sect leader was overjoyed.
He’d been worried that none of the younger generation could become the backbone of the sect’s future, but now, with his last disciple and his junior sister’s new shizhi, both with outstanding talent, the future looked bright.
“Come, come, child, your name is Jiayin, right? Here’s a meeting gift from your shibo.
Take it and have some fun.” The sect leader stood up and produced a white storage pouch with blue patterns, handing it to Wen Jiayin.
A gift from the sect leader himself had to be a treasure, right? It must be valuable.
Wen Jiayin hesitated and glanced at Xin Yun.
“Take it.” Xin Yun took the storage pouch from the sect leader and placed it in Wen Jiayin’s hand.
Only then did Wen Jiayin happily accept it.
“Huai Jing, take your junior sister out to play.
The other kids are in class, right? Show her around—she’ll be going to class in a few days too.” The “Huai Jing” the sect leader mentioned was his eldest disciple.
“Yes, Master.” Huai Jing nervously took his junior sister’s hand, feeling like his little uncle was glaring at him for no reason as he led her out.
Why is little uncle glaring at me? It was his master who wanted to talk to uncle alone, so he sent me and the new junior sister out.
Huai Jing felt super wronged.
Once Huai Jing closed the door, Xin Yun spoke.
“Senior brother, what is it?”
“You really don’t know why I called you?” The sect leader circled his junior sister, his brows furrowed so tightly they could crush a fly.
“You reek of blood! Junior sister, I don’t remember you being a bloodthirsty person.” The sect leader was worried.
His junior sister cultivated the emotionless path—she shouldn’t be affected by anything in the world.
At her level, she should be heartless and emotionless, but lately, she’d changed so much! That’s why he’d always disagreed with their master’s choice for her.
Sure, the emotionless path was supposed to make cultivation easier, and most immortals in the records had taken that path, but people aren’t stones.
Truly cutting off all emotion is easier said than done.
And now, he felt like his junior sister had become more… human.
If her dao foundation collapsed, he didn’t dare imagine the consequences.
“No need to worry, senior brother.
It was just an evil demonic sect causing trouble.
I took care of it for some reason.” Xin Yun didn’t care at all.
“You…” If his junior sister didn’t want to say, there was no point in asking.
Sigh…
“I know what I’m doing, senior brother.” That was Xin Yun’s favorite phrase, and she’d never had any problems before, so the sect leader believed her this time too.
“You’ve always been reliable, junior sister.
If you need anything, remember to ask me.” The sect leader trusted his junior sister’s judgment, so he didn’t press or investigate.
In the future, when he finally learned how dangerous things had been for her, he’d be so angry he’d dig out the measuring stick their master left behind to discipline his junior siblings.
If not for his little shizhi crying and holding his hand, he’d have given his youngest junior sister a real lesson.
“Thank you, senior brother.
If there’s nothing else, I’ll go find Jiayin.”
“Sigh, you get impatient after just a few words.
Wait! Don’t go so fast! I’m not done yet!” The sect leader, feeling he had no authority in front of his junior sister, hurriedly called out to Xin Yun, who was about to leave.
“Your little disciple is talented, so don’t let her fall behind.
If she needs anything for her cultivation, let me know.
I have plenty of good fire spiritual root cultivation methods, better than the ones in the library.
You never collect these things…”
“I’ve already prepared everything for my disciple, senior brother.
The best stuff, of course, I keep for her.
It’s definitely better than what you have.” Xin Yun replied.
“Mine is a heaven-grade technique!” The sect leader was a bit indignant.
Cultivation techniques were ranked Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow, and his was the highest!
“Yeah, mine’s better than yours.” Xin Yun was even more certain.
Better than heaven-grade… The sect leader took a deep breath.
He understood what his junior sister meant.
“Fine, even I don’t know what kind of treasures you have.
If you need anything, just ask.”
“Oh, right, senior brother, there is something I need from you.” Xin Yun stopped just before leaving.
She’d prepared everything for A-Yin, but had forgotten the most important thing, thinking A-Yin wouldn’t choose it.
“What is it?”
“I heard you had a sword made for your little shizhi, but now she refuses to learn swordsmanship and has gone down the path of a spell cultivator.
My disciple happens to need a practice sword.
Would you be willing to part with it?”
“So that’s what you’re after!” The sect leader snorted.
That little disciple of his had wanted to be a sword cultivator and even studied for two days.
He’d been so happy he’d gathered all kinds of rare materials and had the head of Hundred Forge Peak make a great sword.
But as soon as the sword was finished, his little disciple refused to practice, saying sword training was too tiring and she wanted to be a spell cultivator.
That little girl was dead set against sword cultivation, so giving the sword to his junior sister’s disciple was fine.
“Alright, the sword is yours for little Jiayin.” With a wave of his sleeve, a sword gleaming with the unique luster of a top-grade spiritual treasure appeared before Xin Yun.
“It’s alright.” Xin Yun glanced over.
“Thanks, Senior Brother.”
“By the way, remember to be flexible when raising a child.
Don’t be too strict, or your disciple won’t be close to you!” As soon as the Sect Master finished speaking, Xin Yun was already gone.
“Sigh, one after another, they all think I’m nagging.” The Sect Master let out a sigh.
Wait! The Sect Master suddenly remembered what his junior sister had said.
She was going to give that sword to her own disciple to practice with? That was the sword he had prepared as a life-bound artifact for his little disciple! Just for practice? That’s too much!
